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160,000 Land Mines To Be Destroyed

February 21, 1997|By From Tribune News Services.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA — South African Defense Minister Joe Modise announced Thursday that the Cabinet has banned the manufacture of anti-personnel mines as part of the international effort to rid the world of the weapon.

Modise told reporters that President Nelson Mandela's Cabinet took the decision Wednesday and that the country's stockpile of 160,000 anti-personnel mines would be destroyed as soon as possible.

"Cabinet decided on a total prohibition on the use, development, production and stockpiling of anti-personnel landmines with immediate effect," he said.

Modise said South Africa fully endorsed the view of the International Committee of the Red Cross that "the limited military utility of anti-personnel mines is far outweighed by the appalling humanitarian consequences of their use."

He said 2,000 people worldwide are killed or maimed every month by this type of mine.